Practitioner Experience

From a nursing perspective, clinicians experience their own moderate to high level of anxiety and stress when performing venipunctures, particularly in Difficult Venous Access (DVA) patients, which represent approximately 1/3 of patients.

Reduced Risk

Patient and caregiver safety is the cornerstone of high-quality health care. While progress has been made over the last decade, patient safety still remains an important public health issue and healthcare workers across the U.S. continue to experience preventable sharps injuries.

Accidental Needlesticks

Healthcare workers still experience preventable sharps injuries with potential exposure to blood borne pathogens. In U.S. hospitals alone, 1,000 needle stick injuries occur daily and this number is estimated to be 50% under reported.

Central Line Access

In many critical care units, there is a heavy reliance on CVCs, PICCs, and arterial lines for blood draws. Published studies show these central lines pose risk for CLABSI and can cost hospitals significantly for each infection episode.

Enhanced Efficiency

Healthcare reform has created an impetus for hospitals to improve efficiencies, squeezing as much waste out of their processes as possible, while improving quality. The process complexity with collecting blood is highly underestimated. It is a detailed and invasive procedure, with considerable variability in practice. Drawing blood is further complicated by the growing difficult stick patient population, which oftentimes requires multiple stick attempts.

Restick Avoidance

There is a costly impact for 1/3 of patients that are Difficult Venous Access (DVA), which can increase the average direct material and labor costs and take up to 3 times as long to complete a blood draw. There is a costly impact for 1/3 of patients that are Difficult Venous Access (DVA), which can increase the average direct material and labor costs and take up to 3 times as long to complete a blood draw.

ED Redraw Avoidance

The rate of hemolysis is remarkably higher in specimens obtained in the Emergency Department with prevalence as high as 8-15%. In addition to the added cost, patients waiting hours for samples to be redrawn and reprocessed can contribute to admission and throughput inefficiencies which are leading causes of ED overcrowding, ambulance diversions, and patients leaving without being seen – all potential lost revenue opportunities.

Sample Quality

Hemolysis accounts for 40%-70% of poor quality, rejected samples resulting in delayed care, additional patient discomfort and additional redraw cost of $208 for inpatients and $337 for rejected ED samples. Current IV collection methods are associated with significantly higher risk of hemolysis. Emergency department hemolysis rates can be as high as 8-15%.

Blood Collection Complications

Blood collection is not without complications—ranging from mild to severe. Complications that can arise from venipuncture include hematoma formation, nerve damage, pain, hemoconcentration, extravasation, iatrogenic anemia, arterial puncture, allergies, infections, and more. Blood collection is not without complications—ranging from mild to severe. Complications